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Origin and history

The Castrum Saint John, located in Rougiers in the Var, is a medieval site perched at 600 m above sea level, overlooking the Saint-Maximin basin and the Sainte-Baume chain. Built at the end of the 12th century, it controlled the strategic access routes between Provence and Montagne Sainte-Victoire. The castle and its village, occupied until the beginning of the 15th century, were gradually deserted in favour of the hamlet "Le Pays Haut", then the present village "Les Quatre Cantons".

The first records of the castellam vel villa in Rothgerium date back to 1040-1044, when Viscount Fouque and his wife Odile gave up half of them to the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Marseille. A priory was established there, but conflicts, such as the war waged by Guillaume de Signes around 1150, led to his destruction and reconstruction. The site is permanently abandoned around 1540, with only two houses.

The excavations carried out from 1961 to 1969 by Gabrielle Demians d'Archimbaud, pioneers in medieval French archaeology, exhumed an exceptional furniture: 93,919 tesses, 2,600 objects (metal, bone, glass), and 114 coins. These discoveries, published in 1980, have revolutionized the understanding of medieval rural habitats, offering a national methodological model. The site, classified as Historic Monument in 1967, covers 13,000 m2 and reveals a complex social organization, with distinct residential, economic and defensive areas.

The castle, lined with walls flanked by round or square towers, included a 7.5 m square dungeon, a seigneurial house, a vaulted cistern, and a two-span nave church. The village, organized in about fifteen islets, followed the same construction techniques in neat masonry. The Saint John de Solferino Chapel, built in 1860, commemorates the passage of Napoleon III, adding a more recent historical touch to the site.

The historiographic importance of Rougiers lies in its completeness: the first modern excavation of a medieval village in France, it allowed to study in detail the material culture, food, and handicrafts of the inhabitants. The rigorous protocols of D'Archimbaud Demans, including its stratigraphic cuts, have become references, despite the initial absence of regional reference points to date ceramic furniture.

Today, the remains, owned by the commune, bear witness to the transition between a medieval perched habitat and a present village on the plain. The site, open to the visit, retains an orientation table offering an exceptional panorama of Provence, recalling its past strategic role.

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